It was a tough start for Geelong in their season opener against North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos, going down by 62 points.

However, despite the scoreboard appearing lopsided there were some positives the team can take with them into their Round 2 clash against Brisbane on Sunday.

McDonald continues on impressive trajectory

Amy McDonald looks set to continue her upwards trajectory in her second AFLW season after a strong performance against North Melbourne.

After finishing equal sixth in the club’s best and fairest award in her first season, McDonald was a standout for the Cats on Sunday, finishing with a team-high 18 disposals (11 contested), eight intercepts and five tackles.

The 22-year-old’s performance drew praise from senior coach Paul Hood post-match.

“Amy had a terrific game, and she was one of the players that had an influence through all four quarters, so really pleased with her growth and looking forward to a great season from her,” Hood said.

Final quarter belief

The team’s ability to wrestle back some of the momentum in the final quarter was the most pleasing aspect of the game, according to Hood.

Despite the Kangaroos winning the term on the scoreboard, the Cats had an equal amount of scoring shots and demonstrated in the closing stages that their brand of football can stand up. Now they just need sustain that output for longer periods.

“That was a real positive from our players to work through that. In the past we might have found that a bit difficult, so that was probably the greatest positive out of the day,” Hood said.

“We showed that we can compete when we get things right and take the ball forward and get things on our terms and obviously, we are trying to do that for longer periods of the game than we were able to show today.”

Cats will continue to grow

Ten of the 21 players that lined up against North Melbourne in Round 1 have come through the draft pathway within the last three years and Sunday’s game saw the debut of Geelong’s most recent, Darcy Moloney.

This young brigade of players will take time to develop and will be better for getting the experience of playing against one of the premiership favourites so early in the season.

“We will get a great lesson from that (game),” Hood said.

“Clearly, they are one of the best sides in the competition and the benefit of playing them early in the season is that we get to see what the best teams do and what we need to aspire to do and get to work at training and try and do that.

“It is Round 1, we have lost four points today but there is still the opportunity to pick up another 32 throughout the rest of the season.”

New leaders set example

For new captain Meg McDonald and vice-captain Jordan Ivey, it would not have been the start to their leadership reign that they would’ve wanted, but both led by example with their performances.

Ivey in particular was strong in the contest, while McDonald’s chase down on Emma King in the second quarter stopped a certain goal, and she was consistent throughout.

Fans return to GMHBA Stadium

A year can be a long time in football and for Geelong’s supporter base the wait was finally over after an interrupted 2020 spent largely away from home.

It was wonderful to see the stands painted in blue and white, and to hear your applause once again.

A big thank you to the 3701 fans who made the trip to GMHBA Stadium to support the team.